The Legend of 1900
by Giuseppe Tornatore
Our Price: $15.73
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $14.99 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bill Nunn, Clarence Williams III, Mélanie Thierry, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Tim RothDirector: Giuseppe Tornatore
Brand: Image Entertainment
Cinematographer: Lajos Koltai
Writer: Giuseppe Tornatore
Editor: Massimo Quaglia
Producer: Francesco Tornatore
Producer: Laura Fattori
Producer: Marco Chimenz
Writer: Alessandro Baricco
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 125 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-06-04
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Image Entertainment
Movie Reviews of The Legend of 1900
Movie Review: Astounding Rare Gem Not to be Missed!
Summary: 5 Stars
Trust me, this is something you have to OWN because it's compulsive viewing that requires watching over and over again and be delighted to find new things each time afresh.
This is not a romantic love story that some reviewers had us believed. The strength of the story lies in the human journey of life, the poetic script and the delivery of lines, the hauntingly beautiful music and cinematography, the strong acting of a fine cast, the thoughtful production and vision of the director- all the elements we come to appreciate in European films as opposed to the pedestrian Hollywood box office stuff. It's an Italian production directed by Giuseppe Tornatore and made in Rome.
Tim Roth shines. Don't miss his stunning performance.
The story begins with the touching scene of Max, a down and out talented musician selling his trumpet at a pawn shop for next to nothing to buy a decent meal. He begged to play his trumpet one last time and began to play the music created by a "nameless" pianist known as 1900. The indifferent pawnbroker was at once moved by the music and curious about the story behind.
Max reminisced the past on how he got to know 1900 when he played on the luxurious ocean liner, Virginian. His first meeting scene with 1900 is absolutely mesmerising. He was so sea sick that 1900 showed him the way to cure his misery - the now famous piano ride scene- with 1900 playing magical music on a moving grand piano (with brakes taken off). It's an amazingly breathtaking scene that completely captivates the audience with the piano surging backward and forward to the rhythm of the rough sea, crashing everything in the way and landing them in trouble with the ship captain. While being punished to shovel coal in the engine room, 1900's story was told.
He was a newborn foundling in a lemon box on top of a grand piano in the first class cabin discovered by an engine room coal stoker. Hardship and harshness of life had not diminished his kindness of heart and yearning for love so he raised the boy to avoid the boy's doomed fate of an orphanage.
Audience will be moved and enjoy how 1900 still talked about people would be locked up in an orphanage if they don't have children as his adoptive father told him once in jest when he was little. This is 1900's own quiet way of coping with his private grief and keeping his adoptive father's memory alive.
1900 knew little beyond the confines of the ship and was innocent and naive of the ways of the world. His communication and interaction with people were through his music which he created instinctively to express himself and in response to his immediate environment through his keen observations of people and the world around him.
He was born to make music on the piano with magical fingers which impressed the ship captain and others so much that he was allowed to stay on board to entertain after his adoptive father died in an engine room accident and was adored by all. But there would be lonely moments when he and his music were left abandoned by the adoring crowd after the ship docked and passengers flocked ashore to their respective lives and then he was all alone again with his piano.
Through some lovely and thoughtful piano recital scenes for both first and third class passengers, the director shows us how unaffected 1900 was and how he was totally comfortable mixing with the rich and the poor unconscious of class distinction. He was as relaxed with the rich in his tailed tuxedo in first class cabin as with the poor immigrants in the third class cabin who would utter some incomprehensible notes and asked 1900 to play a tune that reminded them of the home they left behind. 1900 would make magical music just on hearing a tune once, to the delight of the crowd.
The three landmark episodes of his life were played out in the following poignant scenes:-
1) His humble response to the ostentatious King of Jazz's bully and challenge to a piano duel. Watch out for how they use a cigarette to prove who has the lightest butterfly fingers whilst making the most earth shattering music and how he plays as if he had two pairs of hands.
2) His gentle, brief yet profound encounter with the girl, a third class passenger, the power of which lies with the director's deliberate intent to leave an indelible mark on the audience through the unsaid, the unspoken and the unrequited love.
3) His trust and friendship with Max culminating to the bittersweet ending of the story through his most endearing and enduring soliloquy about his fear of life not so much because of what he saw but what he didn't see -"Where the whole thing came to an end...how do you just choose one woman, one house, one piece of land to call your own, one landscape to look at ...one way to die...you don't even know where it all comes to an end...it's a voyage too long, perfume too strong... I can't get off the ship (his reality); at best, I can step off my life..."This is some powerful stuff that could easily be uttered by anyone of us in our eternal search for our reality and the meaning of life.
This sums up the tragedy that's his and ours.
I am just typing off the top of my head after I saw the film and can't wait to share with you. I can certainly fine tune and improve on it given more time but in the meantime, enjoy.
Summary of The Legend of 1900
Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 09/04/2007 Run time: 121 minutes Rating: RSimilar DVD Movies
The ConcertAND; Release date: 2011-06-14; DVD
Best price: $13.01
Price in other shops:
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are DeadImage Entertainment; Release date: 2005-03-22; DVD
Best price: $5.39
Price in other shops:
The Star MakerBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2003-02-04; DVD
Best price: $39.45
The Unknown WomanImage Entertainment; Release date: 2009-07-21; DVD
Best price: $15.01
Price in other shops:
MalenaRelease date: 2011-09-20; DVD
Best price: $2.90
Price in other shops:
Cinema ParadisoDVD
Best price: $13.43
The Red Violin (Remastered) (Meridian Collection)Lions Gate; Release date: 2008-06-03; DVD
Best price: $10.23
Price in other shops:
ShineNEW Line Home Video; Release date: 1997-07-16; DVD
Best price: $4.75
Price in other shops:
1900 (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)DENIRO,ROBERT; Release date: 2006-12-05; DVD
Best price: $11.99
Price in other shops:
The Legend Of 1900: Original Motion Picture SoundtrackRelease date: 1999-10-12; Music CD
Best price: $6.51
Price in other shops: